Seven card stud poker has been played for many years. Each player receives seven cards and makes the best five card poker hand from these seven cards. The ranking of poker hands in seven card stud uses conventional poker hand rankings: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair and Highest Card.
Poker games using community cards have also been played for many years. These games generally fall into the family of games known as "Spit-in-the-Ocean" games. In these games each player is dealt one or more cards and the rest of the player's hand comes from community cards available to all players.
Perhaps the most popular community card game is Texas Hold-Em because of the large number of players who can play at one time and the fast action and large pots that are generated. The game is fast because only two cards are dealt to each player, with the remaining cards being dealt to a "flop" which forms the community cards from which each player makes up the rest of his hand. Each hand, however, has a single set of community cards which all players use as part of their poker hand. Therefore, the winning hand comes from that player whose two cards best fit with the community cards.
There are also many casino games which add to the conventional game an additional side bet so that a player can be eligible for a large jackpot. In CARIBBEAN STUD.RTM. Poker, a player can make a separate side bet wager to be eligible for special payouts. If the player has made the side bet wager and is dealt a Royal Flush, the player wins 100% of a progressive jackpot amount. This side bet feature is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,041, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein. As described in this '041 patent, this side bet feature can also be applied to Twenty-One, conventional Draw Poker and other casino games.
In live poker room gaming, a plurality of players compete against one another. The house or game operator provides a dealer, the cards and a table to play the game. Typically, a small percentage of each pot (the "rake") is collected by the game operator as the fee for providing the dealer and the facilities.
Operators of live poker room gaming have used different types of inducements to encourage player participation. Besides free coffee and donuts, many operators also provide what is known as a "bad beat" jackpot. The operator makes a payment to a player who has an unusually high ranking poker hand, but loses the pot to another player with an even higher ranking poker hand.
In a typical "bad beat" jackpot situation, the operator of the poker room seeds a jackpot at some beginning level amount, say $1,000.00. The jackpot can remain as a fixed amount until won by a player or the jackpot can be a progressive amount which increases each hour or day until won.
The progressive jackpot can also increase based on the amount of play occurring at the poker table. For example, a portion of the "rake" can be used by the operator to increase the progressive amount of the "bad beat" jackpot.
In order to win the "bad beat" jackpot, a player must have a high ranking poker hand, but lose the regular game pot to another player. Typically, to be eligible for the "bad beat" jackpot, a player must have at least Aces Full of Tens (a Full House with three Aces and two Tens or better) and then lose the regular pot. Even though the player may have lost the regular pot, the player wins the "bad beat" jackpot which could be several thousand dollars. Often this "bad beat" jackpot is divided among all of the players at the table, with the player holding the "bad beat" hand winning the major portion of the jackpot.
This "bad beat" feature has been a popular addition to live card room poker games and players are attracted to the card room to participate in the various card games played there when a "bad beat" jackpot is available. As casino gaming proliferates throughout the United States and into foreign countries, there continues to be a need to attract and keep the interest of the players in all forms of casino gaming. It is proposed in this invention to create a "bad beat" feature that can be used in connection with many of the conventional casino games, such as Twenty-One, craps, keno, bingo, electronic video poker games and slot machines.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a "bad beat" feature as an adjunct to conventional casino games in either live game format or as played on mechanical or electronic video gaming machines. Among those casino games to which a "bad beat" feature can be added are Twenty-one, craps, keno, bingo, electronic video poker games and slot machines.
It is a feature of the present invention that a player is offered the opportunity to win or share in a "bad beat" bonus payout whenever a pre-established event or series of events occurs during the play of the casino game. The player may be automatically eligible for this "bad beat" bonus payout by simply playing the casino game or the player may be required to make an additional wager to be eligible to receive the "bad beat" bonus payout.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the "bad beat" bonus payouts will add new and exciting features to conventional casino games and will increase player participation and add to the enjoyment of the casino game experience. The "bad beat" feature also provides the player with the opportunity to win a large jackpot amount in a situation such as where the player would otherwise have only a losing hand.